EQUITY AUDITS 

EQUITY INQUIRY STARTER KIT

➨ Equity audits in schools or districts have become increasingly common, either because they are externally mandated or because schools choose to conduct them, often in response to a harmful incident. 

➨ Educational equity means that each child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential. An audit is an official inspection of an individual's or organization's accounts, typically by an independent body. Education has a long history of borrowing terms and ideas from other disciplines (such as business and medicine), and the term equity audit is a part of that tradition. An audit—a term borrowed from the world of finance—calls to mind the impartial review of a balance sheet against a set of agreed-upon practices for sound accounting and business operations. In contrast, the terms “equity” or “fairness” have no widely accepted set of practices or indicators that can be inspected for adherence. Therefore, conducting an equity audit in the absence of an equity "balance sheet" brings up the tensions and complexities inherent in measuring equity.

➨ Equity audits often rely largely on what Shane Safir & Jamila Dugan (2021) call "satellite" and "map" level data that include quantitative measures (like test scores and attendance rates) and survey results. This type of data paints broad brushstrokes, but lacks context and nuance, and risks leaving out some of the most important dimensions and experiences of equity or inequity. It also brings up the tension of whether this type of audit itself can be conducted in an equity-centered and humanizing way. Even when equity audits include things like interviews and focus groups, they are typically conducted as fairly cursory one-off events, and the questions that guide them are often grounded in the narrow audit paradigm.

➨ Districts thinking about conducting equity audits should consider equity inquiry cycles, which lend themselves to more flexible, humanizing and student-centered ways of gathering data and taking action. In smaller districts, where sub-group sizes preclude most types of meaningful quantitative analysis, traditional equity audits are challenging, if not impossible to conduct. These districts especially should consider equity inquiry cycles.

➨ Skrla, L., McKenzie, K. B., & Scheurich, J. J. (Eds.). (2009). Using equity audits to create equitable and excellent schools. Corwin Press.

➨ McKenzie, K. B., & Skrla, L. (2011). Using equity audits in the classroom to reach and teach all students. Corwin Press.